Flow rate tops 10,000 b/d at Llanos discovery

Nov. 30, 2010
A discovery well on the Corcel block in Colombia’s Llanos basin has tested light oil at the rate of more than 10,000 b/d, said Petrominerales Ltd., Bogota.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 30
-- A discovery well on the Corcel block in Colombia’s Llanos basin has tested light oil at the rate of more than 10,000 b/d, said Petrominerales Ltd., Bogota.

Logs at the Caruto-1 well indicated 47 ft of potential net oil pay in the Lower Sand formation. The well flowed at more than 10,000 b/d of light, 32° gravity oil on an initial 7-hr production test with no water on an electric submersible pump at 75% capacity.

Petrominerales, a 65% owned subsidiary of Petrobank Energy & Resources Ltd., Calgary, turned off the ESP due to facility and storage limits at the wellsite and has been producing the well on natural flow at 5,600 b/d. Total depth is 13,024 ft measured depth.

Petrominerales said, “We are installing temporary facilities and expect to have the well producing at a controlled rate of 12,000 bbl of fluid per day within the following week. Additional facility capacity is expected to be available in mid-January.”

Meanwhile, the Boa-2 well encountered the Lower Sand formation 10 ft structurally higher than in Boa-1 and is on production at an initial oil rate of 600 b/d of oil. Corcel-E2 is drilled to 13,180 ft MD, and logs are being run.

A third rig is drilling in the area temporarily. The first rig is moving from Caruto-1 to drill the Cardenal-1 prospect, and the second rig is drilling the Yatay-1 exploratory well on the Guatiquia block southwest of Corcel. The third rig is to move from Corcel-E2 to the Amarillo well pad to drill a new exploratory prospect, Cobea-1 or Amarillo-2.

Petrominerales will incorporate the Caruto-1 well results into its geological model and adjust the drilling order as required. Arion remains a firm prospect for either a sidetrack or redrill.

Meanwhile, the Asarina-1 well on the Llanos basin Rio Ariari heavy oil block cut 79 ft of potential net pay in several Lower Mirador sands and was cased as a potential oil producer. An initial testing program targeting four separate sands began Oct. 30.

The first Mirador test recovered 120 bbl of 10° gravity heavy oil at a maximum rate of 100 b/d with 85% water cut. The second Mirador test in a stratigraphically higher sand recovered 10 b/d of 10° gravity heavy oil at 98% water cut. The final two tests from two separate Mirador sands recovered water with trace amounts of oil.

The presence of oil in the Asarina well encouraged the company, which is considering alternatives including horizontal wells to evaluate the optimal completion, testing, and production techniques for future heavy oil wells.

The next well at Rio Ariari, Mochelo-1, spudded Oct. 29 and reached 5,309 ft measured total depth Nov. 18. Logs indicate 69 ft of net potential pay in the Mirador formation. We cased the well and plan to perform a multi-interval test program. The next well in the program, Borugo-1, is to spud in early-December.

The nine-well Rio Ariari exploratory drilling program is designed to target new exploration prospects and play-types that could result in the identification of multiple large resource opportunities. Petrominerales expects to run this program continuously into 2011.